AT&T launches VoIP services

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at&t has launched phase one of its new internet-based, voip phone service. the at&t callvantage service requires a broadband connection (cable or dsl), and was launched yesterday in parts of new jersey because the state's broadband penetration is around 27%, higher than the national average of 20%.

typical phone services such as call waiting, three-way calling, and call forwarding will be provided free as part of the service. in addition to these services, customers can expect the ability to:

track incoming and outgoing calling,

only receive calls in the event of an emergency with a “do not disturb” feature,

conference in up to 9 additional callers,

have up to 5 home phones ring all at once or one after another, and

listen to voicemail messages from a phone or pc.

the service will be offered at us$39.99 a month, with an introductory rate of $19.99 for the first 6 months to those who sign up before may 31, 2004. at&t has an ambitious goal of signing up one million customers by the end of 2005, with 100 major markets serviced by the end of this year.

brian's opinion
it was only a matter of time before the major phone companies decided to formally jump into the voip market. i think that voip services, which for the most part are unregulated, were a true threat to the major phone companies. rather than allow some “no names” to take over local phone service the big phone companies have begun ramping up to offer voip services of their own.

with a price tag of $39.99 a month callvantage is definitely an attractive offer, especially if you add the additional services offered as part of your initial subscription. at&t's goal of signing up one million subscribers is pretty gutsy; how attainable this goal is will be reflected in the success or failure of phase one.

it definitely helps at&t to have the name recognition it does. i think that brand loyalty and name recognition will allow the company to get subscribers who typically wouldn't have tried voip service in the past.

user comments 16 comment(s)

finally(9:41am est tue mar 30 2004)it really was high time for att to get onto this. they had people tell it to them for the last two decades.

is geed.com going to feature competitive ads with att and vonage?what's not to like about some added security? – by sounds great.

geek.com(9:42am est tue mar 30 2004)sorry for the typo – by that is

at $39.95 how is this better or cheaper than a regular phone?(9:58am est tue mar 30 2004)i've got a cable modem, but don't see why i would get rid of my $28.00 per month land phone and buy voip from at&t at $40.00?yesterday our phone line went out, so we emailed qwest, since we couldn't phone them. if i use voip and lose the land line, i better have a cell phone for backup (more money).voip service is way over priced for the bandwidth used.– by why switch?

i was a beta tester for this(10:05am est tue mar 30 2004)i think i am not supposed to talk about it. the price (free) was right for the few months that i had it. the voip box (it was a d-link of some sort) worked great and i was able to reverse feed the output of the box into the 2nd line of my phone jack and use it on any phone in the house.

however, i could not get into the admin settings to change the setup. as it was, it consumed about 97% of my available bandwidth (i base that on average cnet speed test rates with and without the phone in us) and made surfing the net horrendous every time we used the phone. it sounded great, however. i'm sure there's a way to limit usage in the setup, but it was not made available to me.

either way, it's definitely not worth $40 a month. the feature's aren't very noteworthy, and the unlimited local and long distance is no better than my cell phone. i can add lots of minutes to my cell plan for $40 a month. the international rates were at least twice as high as what i'd pay using $2 phone card from the local bodega.

at&t's seal of approval? just another check in the minus column. – by a. nonymous

heheehhe(10:43am est tue mar 30 2004)why the hell should people pay 40$/month when you can get the same for free with skype

tried it, and love it – by eskimo

primus canada(10:52am est tue mar 30 2004)primus canada offers something similar here in vancouver for about $19.95 for the basic and about $34.95 for the full meal deal. and that's canadian dollars folks!! so about $22usd?– by =)

my pstn service from sprint – $23(12:25pm est tue mar 30 2004)and why should i pay more each month?– by pstn user

now the price with at&t isn't really worth it, you can get voip over pots for much cheaper packet8.com ($19.99 a month unlimited calls) – by pretty cheap eh?

love the name, infrignement anyone?(1:57pm est tue mar 30 2004)callvantage sounds like callvonagevonage being the number one voip provider right now.

the concept is great, different phone numbers in different area codes all usuable anywhere you plug your voiceip into.

my girlfriend lives in chicago, but got a local number in canada (primus but the same service). when i call her it is local, when she calls me no long distance, it is saving our relationship.

if you are a buisness and you want a new york presence you just pay an extra five dollars for the second line.

if you are a business, just buy the residental package and bring the router to your office.

true the technology is still in its infancy, but it will change the world. – by denning

right on denning(4:36pm est tue mar 30 2004)this tech has some ways to go. that's what was so disturbing when companies started pushing it 5 years ago. i know companies that wasted a lot of money to find out voip was years away from use even after i told them it was years away. why pay a consultant when you'll take the advice from the cable guy? – by tech

but what about outages(4:55pm est tue mar 30 2004)just make sure whoever your provider is can gurantee an uptime of 99.9% of the time. if the cable goes out, guess ya shiat out of luck.

old reliable, i'd stick to my landlines for telephone service and shaw cable for internet. – by non-affiliated lamp

gblx was there years agow, and that whent global in no time at all.voip, ip-vpn, ip-vidio… – by zarcondeegrissom

re: denning(5:53pm est thu apr 01 2004)the technology is “there”, right now. i see no difference between a vonage call and a landline call. and it's cheaper, more flexible to control (all aspects of it), and…i could go on and on. no, vonage doesn't pay me, i just got tired of my phone bill going up and up every day. phone company was going to charge me $250+ to come put a wire in my place… – by donewithphones